Founder Shares

About Founder Shares

Every day, we at Hutchison PLLC work with founders and entrepreneurs as they fight and grind and stress and push to bring their visions to reality. We are inspired by their incredible stories of success, of failure, of reworking and trying again.

Publisher

Hutchison PLLC

Category

business · business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

4 Aug 2020

Latest episode

8 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

72 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   8 Oct 2026

   Inside the 2026 GrepBeat Startups to Watch: What North Carolina's Best Early-Stage Companies Have in Common

   Every year, GrepBeat identifies the North Carolina startups showing the most impressive early traction, and the 2026 class might be the strongest yet. In this episode, recorded live at the Startups to Watch Awards in the Research Triangle, Hutchison attorney Jasjit Grewal sits down with honorees, judges, and GrepBeat managing editor David Schwartz to find out what is actually working for early-stage founders right now. The eleven companies recognized this year span fintech compliance, social services technology, agtech, renewable energy infrastructure, AI-powered simulation, media asset management, and biomedical devices, and their founders share candid advice on product validation, mission-driven team building, and how to make the most of North Carolina's uniquely collaborative startup ecosystem. The judges break down exactly what separated the standout applications from the rest, including the metrics, traction signals, and storytelling that made certain companies impossible to ignore. And David Schwartz shares what GrepBeat's transition to nonprofit status means for how the organization will cover and support founders going forward. If you are building a company in North Carolina, thinking about applying to Startups to Watch, or just want an honest look at what early-stage success looks like in 2026, this episode is for you. Hosted by Trevor Schmidt, with field reporting by Jasjit Grewal.

2. 

   4 Aug 2026

   How a Durham Founder Is Making Carbon Removal Cheaper, Simpler, and Ready to Scale

   Direct air capture technology has the potential to meaningfully reduce atmospheric CO2, but high costs and energy demands have kept it from scaling. In this episode, Cory Sanderson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/cory-sanderson/), founder and CEO of Sustaera (https://www.sustaera.com/), explains how his Durham-based climate tech company is taking a fundamentally different approach. Sustaera's conductive structured sorbent technology uses resistive electrical heating instead of thermal regeneration, making it three to four times more energy-efficient than competing direct air capture systems and far simpler to deploy at scale. Cory also gets into the realities of building a climate tech hardware company in the current funding environment, why patient capital and mission-aligned investors matter more than traditional VC timelines, and how the Research Triangle ecosystem has been a genuine asset on the fundraising trail. Attorney Josh Hayes of Hutchison PLLC joins the conversation to add perspective on the unique legal and structural challenges facing clean tech founders. Hosted by Trevor Schmidt.

3. 

   10 Jul 2026

   How to Raise Capital as a Founder: Real Talk on Process, Story, and Grit

   Raising startup capital is one of the hardest things a founder will do, and most people learn the hard way. In this episode, three founders who have collectively raised over $27 million share what actually works. Robin Cowie (Skillmaker.ai (http://skillmaker.ai)), Isaac Park (Keebler Health (https://keebler.health/)), and Lucy Shores Kosturko (Social Cascade (https://www.socialcascade.co/)) break down how to build a fundraising process, why the story you tell investors must be different from the story you tell customers, and how non-dilutive funding sources like SBIR grants can build the traction that makes venture conversations easier. They also get honest about the time cost of fundraising, the evolving expectations at each funding stage, and why the best companies of the next decade are being built right now. Recorded at Grep-a-Palooza 2026, sponsored by GrepBeat, and moderated by Anna Tharrington, corporate partner at Hutchison PLLC. Founder Shares is brought to you by Hutchison PLLC.

Who has been a guest on Founder Shares

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Rick Carlson
• Jasjit Grewal
• Amber Melanie Smith
• Danny Rosin
• Mike Halpert

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

7 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 56 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

88

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

60

Contact Founder Shares

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

Questions about Founder Shares